Nibbles of Tidbits, a Food Blog

I discovered the best Strawberry Buttercream Frosting in Southern Living’s Classic Southern Desserts Cookbook.  And the interesting thing about it is… I don’t even like Buttercream Frosting.  All my life I’ve dumped Cake slices upside-down on the plate to have the Frosting stick to it — That way I’d eat the Cake and the Frosting would be left behind.  After making the pictured Strawberry Cake, I’m converted, at least with respect to Southern Living’s recipe.  It yields a perfect balance of fresh pureed Strawberries, Powdered Sugar and Butter.  I brought this Cake to the office and everyone raved about the Frosting.  The Cake is a different story, since I used my own recipe that wasn’t that terrific.  Fortunately the Strawberry Buttercream Frosting made up for it.  Did I just write that? 

The amazing Strawberries came from the Strawberry Tour at Tanaka Farms.  To see other recipes we’ve made from Southern Living’s Classic Southern Desserts Cookbook click here.

Have you been to Tanaka Farms yet?  If you haven’t, you’re missing out.  It’s in Irvine and is also known as Orange County’s Largest U-Pick Farm.  During certain tours you get to pick your own Strawberries, Watermelon and much more.  We recently went on the Strawberry Tour, which was more fun than we imagined.

At the end of the Strawberry Tour, you get to pick and take home your own large basket of Strawberries, which happens after you eat as many as you can stuff down.  We all said they were the best Strawberries we had in our lives.  Not sure why, but they’re amazingly sweet.  The tour lasts about an hour. 

While on the tractor ride that’s included with the Strawberry Tour, you get to try a few of the seasonal vegetables along the way.  After sampling all, you feel like you’ve just had a healthy meal.  We joked that we should bring Salt, Pepper and Ranch Dressing next time — And we seriously might.

In addition to the endless Strawberries, we ate Radishes, Carrots, Sugar Snap Peas, Green Beans, Iceberg and Red Leaf Lettuce directly from the field.  What a treat!  And when you’re done eating, you just toss the remains (aka Carrot and Radish tops, Strawberry leaves, etc.) over your shoulder off the tractor.

Weekend Strawberry Tours are running now through June 27th (weather permitting) and the Watermelon Tours begin in early July.  Tanaka Farms also offers Cookout Tours, whereas you get to pick, wash and cook your own meal directly from and at the farm.  The view from the cookout area is beautiful.

We still keep talking about how much fun this was and that we now look forward to enjoying Tanaka Farms all year long.  They have a fresh produce stand that’s open daily. 

Family run Tanaka Farms is organized, friendly, fun, clean and pesticide free.  They do a lot of creative planting to put forth the best produce possible.  We’re impressed with ALL.